Glades
by Weskette
Summary: She presses her cheek to his back, squeezing her eyes shut. It's hard bottling such strong emotions, and she hasn't had nearly as much practice as he has. She wants to cry and scream and bawl over the people she saw die. But she isn't going to.


**Well, I went into a writing frenzy last night after screaming at the TV for having both Daryl and Glenn wanting to go back for the kickass bitch that is my favorite character, Andrea. I might have also described to my sister exactly how I was going to dismember Rick.**

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><p><strong>Glades<strong>

He hears screaming. Everywhere, the cries ring out. But someone is running towards him. Someone who has a pulse, and doesn't crave human flesh. He swears and directs his bike towards her. She sees him and whirls around to shoot one more zombie before climbing onto the back of the bike, clinging to him, her final life line. She shoots as he steers them away from the farmhouse and the burning barn.

Once they're finally clear, she presses her face against his back. He can feel her shaking, the adrenaline still pumping through her system. Her arms are tight around his torso, unwilling to loose the only one that knew she was alive. After a few minutes, she slips her chin onto his shoulder so she can see where their going, and whispers in his ear. "We lost Carol."

The bike wavers a bit, but he acts like nothing happened, like nothing ever happened. She takes a deep shakey breath and starts to apologize, but he stops her. "Ain't your fault, Andrea..." It feels like an eternity where the blonde doesn't speak. An eternity where that they both use to bottle their grief and put it away in the back of their mind. But she's the first one to break the silence again. "Where are we going to go?"

He audibly takes a breath before speaking. "Back t' the highway where we left that shit for Sophia. Someone'll be there. If not, you and I'll head south 'r south east." She feels reassured by his words, knowing she'll be fine if he's nearby. She feels so close to giving up again, already. She made her choice before to live, but who knows what'll happen now. They've only got each other in those moments, taking a dirt road that's barely even there. She presses her cheek to his back, squeezing her eyes shut. It's hard bottling such strong emotions, and she hasn't had nearly as much practice as he has. She wants to cry and scream and bawl over the people she saw die. But she isn't going to. She won't let herself do that when she's pressed to the back of a hick who doesn't know the meaning of the word cry. She'll wait until he's not around to do that. They show up to the spot on the highway that still held writing on the windshield of the broken down car. No one else is there. They wait for an hour.

Two.

No one shows up.

Finally, he looks at her from his spot on the ground, leaning against a car. She's sitting like he is, weapon in lap, back against a rusted vehicle, staring at him. She asks again, much calmer than before. "Where are we going to go?"

"We could go south-east. Get a boat."

"Maybe we could just go south... It'd be safer in the everglades... Harder for walkers to get through... We could find a house there." She looks over at him, up at the sky and back to him. "Keep a boat for an escape route..."

He nods. "I think that's good. Better than anything that bitch Lori coulda thought of," he tries to joke, causing her to smile at the memory of complaining to him about Lori. She shakes her head lightly. "Let's start scavenging... I'm sure there's a functional truck along here somewhere."

She focuses on this new goal to keep her mind off the dead. They find a dirty red, four door truck a quarter mile down the road and fill it up, putting the motorcycle in the back. They take two extra gas cans they've found and fill those too. When they start driving, both are silent. Eventually, Andrea curls in on herself and starts to fall asleep. He notices her hand, limp, laying on the seat in between them. He musters up courage and reaches over to her hand, taking it in his own. He squeezes it gently and doesn't let go. She responds by tightening her grip ever so slightly even though she's almost asleep.

Days go by where they only drive, barely getting enough food to eat. They stop some places, cleaning each out of anything useful. They pile it in the back seat and black out those two windows. Every night they fall asleep close to each other, whether it's Andrea's head on his shoulder, or Daryl's head on her lap. His head is on her lap one night while she's wide awake but he fell asleep stretched out as much as possible in the front seat of the truck. She's dragging her fingers through his hair, watching out the front windshield of the vehicle, thinking. Wondering if any of the others made it, or where they're heading if they did.

One day, they end up in her hometown in Florida. She can't bottle in the pain when she goes back to her old childhood home to find two corpses rotting in the living room, holding each other. There's stagnant water in the sink, filled with disgusting, moldy plates and bowls. On the counter behind it, there's a hand. A plastic hand that appears to be reaching upward. There's two rings on one of the fingers and she reaches out and slips them off. "My parent's wedding rings..." she explains. "My dad always helped with the dishes... Mom would say she didn't need any help, but he'd do it any way. They always took their wedding rings off and placed them on the same finger..."

Andrea presses her face against Daryl's shoulder, feeling him hold her for a few precious seconds. When they pull away, they set to work on the cabinets, emptying out the useful items. Before they leave, she double checks that she has the rings in her pocket and runs upstairs, grabs something and runs back down. He asks her what she grabbed and she shows him. It's Amy's class ring. It has an opal gem in the center, her class year emblazoned on one side, a picture of a paintbrush crossed with a pencil beneath it. The other side has her name on it with a bird of some sort beneath it. Andrea slips it onto the ring finger on her right side and hooks her parents wedding rings around her neck with a lithe silver chain. They leave the house and keep driving.

It's at least a month after leaving Hershal's farm that they finally make it to the Everglades. They search for a house with the help of a boat that used to take tourists to see the flora and fauna. They find one, raised up above the water as though it were on stilts. It has two stair ways up to it from a small dock. There are a few other houses nearby as well. They start to stock up the house they claimed with supplies and even manage to find a matress big enough for the both of them and clean enough to the point where it would've even made Lori happy. The morning after they find the matress, they wake up entangled with each other on it. It's not a bad feeling when the worlds ending and they've only seen each other's face for the past month. It becomes a normal thing with them, sex. They get lost in the feeling of each other's bodies and release the stress the broken world has placed on them.

Two months after they've settled, they find three more survivors. They observe them from a distance, slowly approaching them as though they were wild animals. The three do the same. Eventually, they make contact. It's two women and a man. The man is dark skinned, with short black hair and brown eyes. He's slim and under fed. One of the women is blonde, the other brunette. The blonde is small with a scar under her left eye(both of which are brown). The brunette has green eyes and is about Andrea's hieght, and is also the man's wife. The man's name is Josh, the blonde's name is Ali and the brunette's name is Jill. The five talk for a while before Daryl and Andrea step to the side to make a decision. They decide to bring the three undernourished survivors back to the house, feed them and let them live in one of the close by ones if that's what they want. They accept enthusiastically, thanking both multiple times. It's then when they choose to tell them that Jill's pregnant. Andrea just kind of smiles at that, and says "Then we better take care a' you, huh?"

The five live there, and get to know each other better over another month. Daryl and Josh scavenge while Andrea watches over the other two women, teaching them to use weapons like knives and crossbows. She refrains from using guns anymore.

Another survivor shows up basically on their doorstep when Jill's just entering her third trimester. The five thank their lucky stars that it's a doctor. She's a black woman named Lavern. She had worked in a hospital in Virginia before it all happened and headed south with a small group. Slowly, the group had been picked off by the undead, but she had made it. They welcome her into the group and give her a bedroom in Andrea and Daryl's house so she doesn't have to live alone.

On a rainy morning in April, Jill gives birth to a healthy baby boy. Andrea and Ali helps Lavern deliver it and Andrea is the one that hands the screaming infant to his mother. Jill names him Thomas.

Now with seven in this new group, Andrea and Daryl feel themselves slowly lose the pain of loss of the last group. Carol, T-Dog, Glenn... All of them are remembered. One day, Daryl wakes to Andrea snuggling against him. "Whaddya want?" he asks sleepily. She takes his left hand and slips a ring on it. Her father's wedding band. She lifts her own hand and shows him how her mother's wedding ring is placed on her ring finger. He pulls her in and kisses her, promising her himself. The other's notice the rings almost immediatly, congradulating them.

Two more survivors show up nearby, a man and a woman. The two are practically emaciated and immediatly taken in by the seven in the everglades. The man is a little over six five, with brown hair and blue eyes, and his name is Nate. The woman with him is his wife, Elena. She's considerably smaller than him, at least nine inches shorter. She's got blonde hair and brown eyes and a pretty smile. They take a third house that's besides the other two occupied ones. It's damaged so they all work together to fix it. Daryl climbs onto the roof and patches the leaks while Josh and Nate fix holes in the walls.

Andrea walks into the kitchen and smells the deer that Ali is cooking on the stove. She feels queezy and has to cover her nose from the smell. She forgets about it until it happens again a week later. Some meat is cooking and she has to rush outside and vomit. Jill points out that in her first trimester, she went through the same things that Andrea has been lately. She asks Daryl what he feels about her pregnancy. He pulls her into a deep kiss before telling her, "Ain't nothin' in the world that'd make me happier." They start writing down names when she starts to show, belly rounding. Andrea starts helping Jill with Thomas more and more, trying to get the hang of baby care. She sees Daryl watching Josh play with his child, and trying to help out the father when he can.

Before she has her baby, the group grows again. Two more people join them, both men. Lavern moves out of Andrea and Daryl's house to join one of the other men in his. Daryl makes a plan with Josh, Nate and the two new men, Jason and Anthony. They head out and find timber. Together they start building more raised houses. The first is nearly done when Andrea goes into labor. Lavern is helped by the other women while men fetch whatever is needed and Daryl is at her side, praying to God that she doesn't break his hand as she's squeezing with all her might. After twelve and a half hours of labor, a baby girl is born into the world. They name her Persephone Amy Dixon. "Persephone," Andrea explains, "Was my mother's middle name." Persephone cries most of the first night, and everyone is glad that they live in the Everglades, even though it's buggy and humid. The terrain makes it impossible for almost anyone to get across, exspecially walkers. Even if any of the undead did hear the baby's wails, they couldn't make it to them

When their newest edition is three months old, two more raised houses have been built. It works out because five more people move in by the end of that month. There's two men, one woman, a teenage girl and a male child of about eight. The only two related are the younger of the men, a man named Aiden and the boy, Ronald. The remaining man is called Sully, short for Sullivan. He's got white hair, and seems to be about fifty eight or so. The woman, a brunette named Caroline, takes one of the new houses with Aiden and Brandon as well as Sully.

The last of the group, the teenage girl, introduces herself as Sally. She's blonde with sad blue eyes and freckles across her cheeks. Andrea invites her to take an extra room they have because the teen reminds her of herself and of Amy. Just like Andrea, Sally had to kill her sister. It had been her older sister, Cyan. She had been bit and had rather die than change into a walker.

Sally starts helping Andrea and Daryl with Persephone. It's a welcome fact, do to how niether of the child's parents can get a full night's sleep. Andrea, when talking to her child, starts to refer to Sally as 'Aunt Sally'. The group keeps growing, building out from the original house. Eventually, it becomes a small settlement. Children are born in it, being raised in a safer environment than any within hundreds of miles. The name it seems to have taken on is Glades.

Late one night, laying naked besides Daryl, Andrea whispers, "Can you believe this?" she asks. "This used to be just us. But now... It's this." He kisses the corner of her mouth and smiles. "We came pretty damn far. Gotta kid and everything..." There's silence until the unspeakable statement is spoken. "I wish they were here." They, of course, means the original group they had been part of. "I miss them. I miss Glenn asking me how to tell Maggie he loves her... I miss T-Dog's jokes. Carol's mothering way. Hell, I even miss Lori's bitching." He snikers at that.

They both fall asleep after that and the subject isn't brought up again. It's thought about, of course. Carl's innocence, Maggie's stubborness, Hershal's stability. All of it is thought about. That's why Andrea think's it's her imagination when she, Daryl, Josh and Sully head back to the 'main land' as they call it and she hears a familiar voice. Josh and Sully get off first, Andrea and Daryl checking the motor. When Andrea is walking up from the lower cabin, she hears, "Got room for us?" It's a deep, African American tone that she recognizes, even though it's been at least two years.

"We can help out. We'll do our part," a younger man's voice speaks.

"We've got some supplies t' contribute too." That one was a woman's voice, a bit of a southern slang. Andrea rushes up the stairs at this, getting off the boat as quickly as she can. Sure enough, they're standing there. T-Dog, Glenn, Maggie. Beth is there too, and Carl. They all look a bit worse for wear. Each look like they haven't eaten in days. Carl, probably eleven or twelve now, is clinging to Maggie's hand. Her other hand is taken by Glenn's. Andrea stares at them, speechless, and they stare back. Daryl comes up the stairs behind Andrea, speaking. "Why's it all quiet all of a-" He sees them.

Someone mumbles "Oh my God..." And suddenly Andrea throws herself at them, hugging each with the ferocity of a bear. She's crying from the joy of seeing her friends again. "We thought you were dead!" She manages to say once the hugging is over.

"Same here," T-Dog replies, smiling from ear to ear.

"Wha-... What happened to everyone else?" She asks, even though she could guess pretty accurately.

"We lost Carol, Patricia and Hershal in the hard that attacked the farm," Glenn says.

"My dad got bit a month after that..." Carl adds in. "And mom died from a misscarriage when she found out..." Andrea frowns.

"We thought we lost you two too," Maggie whispers.

"We made it out on my motorcycle," Daryl mentions, stepping in. "We went to the highway, but no one showed up, so we made a plan t' come here. We were the first two in Glades." He tilts his head to Josh, standing nearby, confused by the happenings. "We found Josh, his wife and her sister a while after that. Place has been growin' ever since."

Andrea hugs them all again and ushers them onto the boat. "C'mon. We'll get you all a place to stay." They all go back in the boat, and Andrea invites them into Daryl's and her own house.

Sally comes down the stairs, baby in her arms. "Andrea, Persephone's been a bit fussy," the teen informs.

"Well, hand her over. If she doesn't want me though, I'm guessing she'll want her daddy." Andrea takes the little blonde baby, who continues to whine. "C'mon, sweetie, let's meet some people, then I'll hand you off to Daddy, okay?" Andrea turns to her friends. "This is my daughter, Persephone."

"Who's the dad?" Maggie asks. "I'm guessin' it's the guy that put that ring on your finger."

Daryl, in the back of the group, snorts. He approaches Andrea and takes the baby from her. "See?" Andrea says to the child. "I told you your daddy would take you." The five from the original group stand awestruck.

"Daryl's the baby daddy?" T-Dog asks, eyebrows raised.

Andrea nods. "Daryl is my husband too."

The five are silent until Carl says what they're all thinking. "Holy shit."

"Carl!" Maggie scolds.

"What?" the boy asks. Maggie roles her eyes and returns her attention to the scene before her

Beth mumbles a question that couldn't be more true, exspecially for the eight in the room. "It's weird how much changes after over two years, huh?"


End file.
